FA Cup | Arsenal vs Manchester City| 23rd April at 15:00 (GMT)

[redwhiteAustrian]

Credit to the Manager and the team, a well fought and thought out victory that was. Sure, the game was in the balance over 120 minutes but we deserved to go through I thought.

Chelsea in the final fills me with more confidence than Spu*s, since we at least managed to beat them once this season.

 

[Jasard]

By the state of her jumper , she isn't clued in on how to wash woollens .

 

[billyf]

Congrats to the boys and the manager. Unfortunately, I could only watch the extra time.

 

[MoHaMed14]

We've beaten better City teams and looked far better in doing so when playing 4231 or 4141. I hate this formation, personally. We can't pass for sh!t, and we're no good at getting the ball back. Look how easy it was for them to get to our back line? The gaps Toure was sauntering unopposed in to. It was shambolic. Look at their goal. Nah man. We cant see games out like we did today, every week. Not a chance.

It is not the formation. It is the personal at disposal. We don't have adequate midfielders to keep possession apart from ever-injured Cazorla.

Even with 4231/4141 we struggled with possession; again because of personal. That's why this formation change to 343 better suits us because you don't need world class midfielders but just great defending and taking your counter-attacking chances.

I don't blame the formation for their goal but Ramsey. We still had many players up the field after set piece and he tried to dribble past three City players.

 

[Ashybashy86]

Just had a chance to watch the whole match. My word what a passenger Giroud was. I defend him because he's saved us many times before, but that truly was a lamppost performance. We basically played most of the match with 10 men.

 

[celestis]

It is not the formation. It is the personal at disposal. We don't have adequate midfielders to keep possession apart from ever-injured Cazorla.

Even with 4231/4141 we struggled with possession; again because of personal. That's why this formation change to 343 better suits us because you don't need world class midfielders but just great defending and taking your counter-attacking chances.

I don't blame the formation for their goal but Ramsey. We still had many players up the field after set piece and he tried to dribble past three City players.

Hit the nail on the head mate , there is a lack of quality midfield in technical sense but we do have midfielders with superb engines this system like Chelsea's allows us to defend doggedly and counter and wear opponents down because we can keep running .

 

[BobP]

I take back everything negative I've ever said about Arteta.

 

[mm76]

good day out yesterday - first half not great to say the least but we were the more posiive team after the break.

Thought Citeh's goal came against the run of play but we kept on going afterwards.

our defending was generally much better, Holding, Kos and Gabriel all did well overall

Still amazing we won though especially as, as others say, Giroud was barely in the game, and a few others not at their best either

but Ox again proved why he's so important - yes, made mistakes here and there, but one of our most positive players

and a great goal from Monreal

 

[carlito'sway]

I take back everything negative I've ever said about Arteta.

Arteta is a class act.

 

[karl]

Thought Citeh's goal came against the run of play but we kept on going afterwards.

our defending was generally much better, Holding, Kos and Gabriel all did well overall

This was the most impressive thing to me. Recently you could see heads drop as soon as we concede a goal, but yesterday they actually showed some character. I'm sceptical about whether they can raise their game in a less attractive fixture though.

 

[Jury]

It is not the formation. It is the personal at disposal. We don't have adequate midfielders to keep possession apart from ever-injured Cazorla.

Even with 4231/4141 we struggled with possession; again because of personal. That's why this formation change to 343 better suits us because you don't need world class midfielders but just great defending and taking your counter-attacking chances.

I don't blame the formation for their goal but Ramsey. We still had many players up the field after set piece and he tried to dribble past three City players.

Ramsey tried to create a goal in the edge of their box and the ball was intercepted. One pass to the halfway line should not have resulted in a goal. Anyone who thinks that's the normal level of risk you should be taking in a match like that is s fool. Anyone who thinks leaving one man alone isolated 20 yards inside the opposition half as the last man is a fool.

You can't pretend to have a clue about football if you advocate that. Thus blaming Ramsey is dumb. Blaming him in the heat of the moment is one thing. But if you still think the formation was fine and Monreal being isolated like that was fine when you've had time to take stock, then you're blinded by something.

 

[Parvez-Drupesh]

yes yes this what I say to papa jagan is Arsenal was win 2-1 now mr wenger is signing new contracting

 

[Hunta]

yes yes this what I say to papa jagan is Arsenal was win 2-1 now mr wenger is signing new contracting

 

[Kingslayer]

Into the FA Cup Final *and* @Parvez-Drupesh returns.

We're not worthy.

 

[Batman]

It's clear as day that confidence is 80% of our issues on the pitch, that stems from bad management but I don't want to go there today. Once they realised they could be decent we started doing really well and players like Ox snap in to life.

Ox has been on a pretty steady ascent in a number of roles all season. He put in a couple of MOTM performances in central midfield before this. I would say since the turn of the year he's been second only to Alexis in terms of consistency and quality. Hopefully he can stay healthy and keep this up. He's got every tool you could possibly want in his locker and it's been fantastic to see him finally use all of them at times this year.

 

[Makingtrax]

Need to beat Citeh first. But I have a good feeling about this for some insane reason!

Bump

 

[mm76]

Citeh aren't better than us we can beat them with the right attitude,as for the Middlesex mob we can beat them too don't forget the final's not until next month a lot can happen between now and then especially a Spuds collapse!
2-1 to us on Sunday!

This wins the 'spot on forecast' award

hope you're right about the Spuds collapse too and Saturday wasn't a one-off...

 

[rich 1990]

Bump

I said before we scored the second goal that I'd be surprised if we didn't score from a corner or free kick. We're ****ing geniuses, tbf.

 

[Trilly]

No thanks to that OLD FINISHED DONKEY Wenger, not so @Rimaal @Mark Tobias @Jury @Trilly @Sapient Hawk @4R5Emaniac

This is a very dangerous game you're playing.

 

[Enfield]

The best thing about yesterday was seeing the players roll up their sleeves and give it a real go

The Xhaka fist pump
Mesut running himself into the ground
Gabriel blocking all over the shop
Wenger talking, organising and the lads listening in total concentration

Were back for now, do the lot on Sunday and its all on the line again. They'll get the wobbles and we're on the hunt for a few more weeks